A desire to attain energy independence from foreign producers of petroleum products has recently created tremendous interest in methanol and ethanol as liquid fuels. Typically, this interest is directed at conventional techniques for converting crops such as corn into ethanol and soybeans, rapeseed, and other vegetable oils into bio-diesel fuel. The production of bio-diesel from animal and vegetable oils requires a chemical conversion by reacting the oils with methanol. This in turn creates the need for alternate sources of methanol, preferably renewable sources. One drawback associated with these methods are the costs associated with producing the agricultural feedstocks. Simultaneously with these efforts, the desire to provide a safe and reliable waste disposal method has led to the development of waste treatment systems that generate usable energy as a by product. Examples of such systems are found in the following U.S. patents and pending U.S. patent applications, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated into this disclosure in their entirety by this reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,891 Arc Plasma-Melter Electro Conversion System for Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery—Issued Sep. 16, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,957 Tunable Molten Oxide Pool Assisted Plasma Melter Vitrification System—Issued May 26, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,923 Apparatus for Continuous Feed Material Melting—Issued Jul. 28, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,497 Tunable, Self-Powered Integrated Arc Plasma-Melter Vitrification System for Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery—Issued Aug. 25, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,752 Enhanced Tunable Plasma-Melter Vitrification Systems—Issued Sep. 22, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,353 Methods and Apparatus for Low Nox Emissions during the Production of Electricity from Waste Treatment Systems—Issued Dec. 8, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,564 Tunable, Self-powered Arc Plasma-melter Electro Conversion System for Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery—Issued Jun. 1, 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,471 Methods and Apparatus for Treating Waste—Issued Jan. 25, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,560 Enhanced Tunable Plasma-Melter Vitrification Systems—Issued Mar. 14, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,678 Methods and Apparatus for Treating Waste (Arc Plasma Joule Heated Melter System for Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery)—Issued Apr. 10, 2001, U.S. Pat. No. 6,127,645 Tunable, Self-powered Arc Plasma-melter Electro Conversion System for Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery—Issued Oct. 3, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,160,238 Tunable Molten Oxide Pool Assisted Plasma Melter Vitrification System—Issued Dec. 12, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,825 Methods and Apparatus for Low Nox Emissions during the Production of Electricity from Waste Treatment Systems—Issued May 23, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,210 Method for Complete Destruction of Carbon in High Temperature Plasma Waste Treatment Systems—Issued Jun. 10, 2003, U.S. Pat. No. 6,630,113 Methods and Apparatus for Treating Waste—Issued Oct. 7, 2003, U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,542 Sealed Electrode Feeding Assembly—Issued Jan. 25, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,560 Inductively Heated Side Drain for High Temperature Molten Materials—Issued Oct. 11, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,711 Valveless Continuous Atmospherically Isolated Container Feeding Assembly—Issued Apr. 16, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,604 Symbiotic Solid Waste Gaseous Waste Conversion System for High Efficiency Electricity Production—Issued May 18, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,906 Arc Furnace with DC Arc and AC Joule Heating—Issued May 27, 2003, U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,107 Dual Fuel Source Carburetor Method—Issued Oct. 19, 2004, Ser. No. 11/177,152 filed Jul. 6, 2005 for: Method For Enhancing The Operation Of Electrical Power Plants and Energy Storage Ser. No. 11/432,826 filed May 12, 2006 for Combined Gasification And Vitrification System.
While these waste treatment systems have proven to be effective in converting waste products to useful energy in the form of synthesis gas, there exists a need to convert this synthesis gas into more easily handled liquid fuels and chemical products such as methanol. Unfortunately, the synthesis gas produced by these and similar waste treatment systems does not lend itself to conversion into liquid fuels using known techniques. For example, the inventors of the present invention have discovered that the balance of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide that is often produced in these systems is unsuitable for direct conversion to methanol using commercial methods and apparatus. Thus, there exists a need for new methods and apparatus to convert organic waste streams into methanol and other liquid products that overcomes the drawbacks of these prior art systems. The present invention addresses those needs.